Capturing the South Sea Mirage

Paul Jacoulet (1896–1960) is one of Japan’s most peculiar modern print artists, not only because of his identity as a French man but because of his profuse depictions of exotic natives from the South Sea islands. From the start of his artistic career, Jacoulet made several excursions to Japan’s recently acquired pacific colonies to record the people of Micronesia through drawing, which he published into colorful prints that showcase his iconic incorporation of both Western and traditional Japanese art. Scholars often described Jacoulet’s thematic interest as part of a larger trend of Japanese artists traveling overseas or the French artist’s personal fascination with Paul Gauguin’s travels to Tahiti. I argue, however, that the artist’s objective in his travels is to capture a disappearing culture that echos Japan’s own struggle with its evaporating culture in its transition into a modern colonial power. Even though Paul Jacoulet depicted various Asian- Pacific cultures within his prints, it was his South Sea series that especially resonated with his Japanese audiences as it portrayed the Pacific islands as a beautiful and simpler world that’s slowly fading away, conveying a sense of melancholy and nostalgia for a more colorful past for the Japanese. This paper combines art historical analysis with colonial studies to explore Japan’s cultural connection with its Micronesian colonies within the prints of Paul Jacoulet: how the artist purposefully incorporates Japanese artistic conventions in his portrayal of the South Sea that allows him to juxtapose two seemingly contrasting cultures and highlights the interactions between Japan and the South Seas as colonizer and colonized.